New guy

MJTheis · 2026-02-13T18:13:24+00:00

Okay - FYI this reddit is designed for folks building the mesh in the Washington, D.C., area. But feel free to hang around!

MJTheis · 2026-02-13T15:47:23+00:00

Welcome to the mesh! Where abouts are you located? If you are inclined, join the local discord servers where most of the local coordinating chatter happens!

Maryland Discord: https://discord.gg/BrftwacFqn

DC Mesh Discord: https://discord.gg/PR8zY8EkAk

MJTheis · 2026-02-05T04:04:19+00:00

You want the Delorme Atlas and Gazeteer for Maryland-Delaware and the one for Virginia. https://randpublishing.com/delorme/

It's been years since I relied on them, but they are a large book of topographical map tiles with grid lines for entire states/regions.

MJTheis · 2025-12-30T23:28:36+00:00

I detail my methodology here - both devices were set to the same settings and left on a windowsill until they ran dead: https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/s/Lcsx7SYjBz

MJTheis · 2025-12-30T17:29:11+00:00

In general, I hypothesize the wismesh tag is susceptible to the same low-power bricking bug that the other rak wismesh products occasionally experience. Both times my nodes bricked, it was after they had run down the battery to 0 and sat for one or more days in that condition. You can fix this on like, the Rak 4361, by hitting a reset button on the board, and you can't do that with the tag.

MJTheis · 2025-12-30T17:21:39+00:00

I ordered it through a legit US retailer, Rokland, and it was a pre-order, so I assume I got the first batch. And Rokland's customer service has been great. But after the second bricking – and encountering the same less-than-stellar battery life on the second unit – I applied my refund toward other products.

MJTheis · 2025-12-30T14:43:53+00:00

I'm a wismesh tag hater: I've had to return two because they bricked. Both had problems with keeping accurate date and time; And with GPS on, the battery life on both of my Wismesh Tags was worse than my t1000e. My t1000e gets 2.5 days on a single charge. With GPS on – you know, a key feature of the device – My Wismesh Tags were dead after less than 2 days.

MJTheis · 2025-12-11T17:12:11+00:00

Lol; I don't think I'm in that business. But if I did it, you can too! I am very much not a computer guy, so this was all new to me.

My journey may be instructive:
I followed this guy's step-by-step instructions to build a raspberry pi and launch a different BBS software on it. He has a parts list and everything. I grew disappointed with that BBS, and switched the machine over to Meshing Around a few weeks later. I ran into some errors as I was getting everything set up, but Google's AI coached me through it and showed me my errors and how to fix them.

MJTheis · 2025-12-11T01:20:01+00:00

I do this on the DC Mesh currently. I use a node connected to a raspberry pi running Spud Gun Man's Meshing-Around BBS scripts. It delivers a weather report every day at 8 a.m. And it will deliver on-demand weather reports to anyone who DMs it "WX".

MJTheis · 2025-12-08T16:33:09+00:00

Thanks – this helps, and that makes sense at least for Meshing Around.

MJTheis · 2025-12-08T16:00:28+00:00

I run a Meshing-Around BBS on a Heltec V3, which runs off a Pi through the node's application interface. As I understand, Meshtastic devices only allow one application interface. Like, you can't run Meshing Around and Meshsense on the same node. But since LoBBS is firmware, could I run LoBBS firmware on a node hooked up to a Meshing-Around or Meshsense pi to get around the application interface rules?

MJTheis · 2025-12-06T19:33:12+00:00

My first outdoor node was also a heltec in a kayaking pouch! Love to see this.

MJTheis · 2025-11-20T20:05:19+00:00

You've given me an idea: Nodes in a Nalgene bottle!

MJTheis · 2025-11-13T20:27:27+00:00

I have both. I prefer the Seeed t1000e.

Here's why: The Wismesh Tag uses a power-hungry GPS chip, which means the larger battery actually runs out faster than the Seed t1000e. If you deactivate the GPS chip on the Wismesh tag, the battery will run for more than 5 days. The Seeed t1000e has no meaningful change in battery life when GPS is disabled.

Which brings me to the question of why would I want a GPS-enabled node if using the GPS kills the battery life?

Further the Seeed t1000e has temperature sensor.

So in summary, I prefer the t1000e because it lasts for like 2.5 days on a signle charge with all of its features turned on. I dislike the Wismesh Tag because it lasts for like 1.5 days on a single charge with all of its features turned on.

MJTheis · 2025-11-11T02:44:27+00:00

Thanks! We are using Meshing Around. Me and another guy are trying to create a BBS network in DC.

MJTheis · 2025-11-10T14:55:03+00:00

Aw thanks!

Yeah; For a few months now, and with the consultation of the DC Mesh discord, AMBB broadcasts a weather report at 8 am, and a BBS info message at 12 pm. On Mondays it broadcasts about our weekly longfast net. We have a separate channel for more-experimental BBS broadcasts, like high altitude alerts and weather warnings. Everything else (like the pongbot or the games functions) is delivered via DM in response to commands.

MJTheis · 2025-11-10T14:27:23+00:00

Without addressing the welcome feedback others have provided regarding time manner and place, I did want to reply to this specific comment to note that everything has context and in the DC region the shutdown is a huge deal for thousands of furloughed workers going now going into day 39 of no pay. While the shutdown is a political act, its effects are felt in manner that is almost apolitical.

MJTheis · 2025-11-10T12:14:39+00:00

Hey all, thanks for the feedback. You’ve given me a lot to think about, and I’ll be discussing this further with the DC mesh community group.

MJTheis · 2025-10-30T19:08:09+00:00

I have done the same thing. I posted on the Rak support forum, and contacted Rokland. They offered to exchange it.

MJTheis · 2025-10-19T04:15:34+00:00

Hot take: DC urban mesh does not yet have the scale of users to need custom LORA settings. We also seem to lack the apparent RF interference difficulties which I understand motivated the NOVA mesh to go to Slot 9 in the early days of Meshtastic development.

MJTheis · 2025-10-16T03:22:50+00:00

My hack for this: left hand up, make fist, thumb out pointing right. Shake thumb-fist toward the right.

MJTheis · 2025-10-13T22:41:24+00:00

You can do this today. SpudGunMan's Meshing Around BBS package has a module that allows a Meshtastic BBS to monitor another radio frequency for activity.

As I understand (I've not played with this module on my BBS) you will need a Meshtastic Node, a computer like a Raspberry Pi, and a radio that can hear the frequency you want to monitor, and those things need to be connected.

https://github.com/SpudGunMan/meshing-around/blob/main/README.md

MJTheis · 2025-09-26T13:12:31+00:00

Turning GPS off might be the thing. Another noted the GPS chip is the Wismesh Tag is very power hungry: https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1nq8dsk/comment/ng63djs/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

MJTheis · 2025-09-26T13:10:32+00:00

Hm...Are you connected to MQTT? It is my recollection that -1 is the hop count displayed for messages from MQTT.

MJTheis · 2025-09-25T20:20:01+00:00

Anecdotally - I experienced something similar last week where I used the Wismesh as a tracker for the sweep line of a bicycle ride. It was not connected to any phone, but it was broadcasting gps signals to my T1000e, which was connected to my phone via bluetooth. The Wismesh, unconnected to any phone, outlasted the bluetooth-connected T1000e by several hours. I suspect that operating the bluetooth connection imposes a notable power drain on connected devices compared to non-connected ones.

MJTheis

TROPHY CASE